Promo - March 2009 - (Page 8)

10 Sampling 12 Legal 13 Retail 14 interactive 16 EXPERIENTIAL THE PLAYERS No Lumps Neglected brand Cream of Wheat heats up/Patricia Odell B&G Foods is in the turnaround business. Its most recent project? Cream of Wheat, the 116-year-old brand likely remembered most fondly by people of a certain age whose moms regularly served up steaming bowlfuls on cold winter days. The brand was purchased from Kraft Foods Global, Inc., in February 2007 for $200 million in cash, and had reported 2006 sales of about $60 million. At the time, Cream of Wheat—one of the most trusted and widely recognized brands—was getting cold. Despite its position as the No. 2 brand in the hot-cereal category, it drew little attention from the marketing and sales departments. In grocery stores, the familiar packages were being squeezed out by popular brands with big marketing and trade dollars. It was bleeding market share, and revenue had been dropping sharply, 6% per year for the previous five years. For a brand that urgently needed reheating, B&G was a good match. The brand arrived with a long list of challenges that the company is known for meeting, and it held the promise of a noteworthy rebirth. “We tend to take on neglected brands from other companies that are profitable, shelf stable, have a longstanding tradition and strong brand equity,” says Brandi Unchester, director of marketing at B&G Foods, who is directly responsible for Cream of Wheat. “We give it a little bit of attention, some marketing and sales support— and it starts to grow.” Since its purchase just over two years ago, Cream of Wheat has regained market share, shelf space and revenue. It is coming back, competing again with the likes of Quaker Oats, the largest brand in the category. “People ate it as kids and it may have fallen out of consideration,” Unchester says. “Our goal is to reach as many people as possible to remind them of how good Cream of Wheat was and is.” B&G placed its initial bets on the brand’s most popular flavors: maple brown sugar, cinnamon swirl, and apples and cinnamon. It began by rebuilding retail distribution. A budget line was added for marketing and trade dollars, and word began to spread through national FSIs with coupons and shelf talkers as the hotcereal season got underway. Things seemed to be working. Within the first nine months of 2007, sales increased 3%. Reps in New York passed out 40,000 single-serve samples of Cream of Wheat original and maple brown sugar and a $1 coupon with messaging that drove people to the Web site to sign up for another free sample. 8 March 2009 / WWW.PROMOMAGAZINE.COM / Promo http://WWW.PROMOMAGAZINE.COM

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Promo - March 2009

Promo - March 2009 Contents Editor's Note No Lumps Sampling by Surprise Legal Check Smartphone Shoppers Taxes and Twitter New Rules of the Road Commentary In Your Face Phones and Flash Social Studies The Agency Center Resource Center Peer-to-Peer Index of Advertisers

Promo - March 2009

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